Bren Joy

Photo Credit: Nathan Smith

Nashville native Bren Joy has simply burst onto the music industry scene. Upon the release of his 2019 debut album, Twenties, the R&B/Soul artist has earned over 11.5 million streams on Spotify alone with spots on four of the platform’s curated playlists. Joy’s music doesn’t color inside the lines: it draws its own. Blending R&B, gospel, hip-hop, and pop sounds with his distinct vocal tone, the musician’s genre fluidity is a true mark of his musical abilities. This talent was showcased once again on his most recent single, “Freezing,” which received critical acclaim. With all of these early successes, it’s a shock for many to find out that the artist began this music journey only five years ago. We recently spoke with Bren Joy about the origins of his career, the method behind his one-of-a-kind style, and more!

WIMITLA: Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Bren Joy: I don’t even know where to start. Well, I’m 23, and an artist from Nashville that started making music a year or two ago. But, yeah, I don’t know! Life has been crazy, but I make R&B and pop music, and I'm also a writer now. 

W: You mentioned that you started making music about a year or two ago. How did you get your start? 

BJ: I got my start right after high school, and I started singing, so I became a vocal major in college. No one in my family really did music, and I didn’t really grow up singing or playing any instruments or anything like that, so it was all kinda new to me. I guess it’s like a hidden talent I found. Junior year of college came and I got tired of singing, so one of my professors came to me and was like “Yo, you should start writing your own stuff,” and now we ended up here, which is dope. All of the first songs I started writing were actually on my first project.

W: Something that I’ve noticed is that it manages to merge an incredibly wide array of styles, from R&B to gospel, hip-hop, and pop. But, what’s interesting is not just that you can tackle all of these genres, but that you can tackle all of them within one song. Do you have a specific method with which you go about achieving this, or is it just natural?

BJ: That’s a good question. I do, actually, have a method. I grew up with a lot of R&B and gospel influence, mainly vocally. So, I always try to have different aspects of them each song. You’ll hear, especially in a lot of these newer songs, that it’s very modern and hip-hop and pop-based, and a lot of my background vocals are very R&B/gospel-based. That’s what I’ve found to be the right formula, I guess, to getting it to where I want to sound, you know? I always go back after I’ve finished my songs and add in a live instrument, whether it be keys or bass or something else, just as a nice ode to the Stevie Wonders of the world. But, yeah, that’s the formula: making sure I have a little bit of everything. 

W: Well, delving into more specifics, I’d like to talk about your debut project Twenties. You’ve said it’s “about the new era of youth.” How have your personal experiences played into the making of the album? 

BJ: The whole album is a big personal experience. The first eight songs I’ve ever written are all on there, and I made the whole entire project with friends and homies, from the key parts, to the production, to the background vocals. I think the whole project embodies what I was going through at that point in life, and you’ll notice that there’s not a lot of songs on there about love or lust or anything like that. A lot of it is just about a pure enjoyment of life, and I think that that’s what I wanted to embody. I didn’t really experience love, or anything like that, at the moment, and I think that you can really hear that. It sounds like junior year of college, hopefully. 

W: Starting a music career later, I’m sure there’s been a lot of difficulties. What’s been the hardest part about getting your career off its feet? 

BJ: Well, right now is such a weird time. One of my favorite quotes belongs to Drake, who said in an interview once that “You can never outsmart the public.” I think that’s something that I’ve really realized. I don’t think anyone knows where music is headed, and, with everything going on in the world right now, everyone’s in a completely different mood. It’s just the oddest time, especially to release music. As an up and coming new artist, that’s something I’ve definitely been dealing with: Just going balls to the wall on what I want to do without worrying how certain people are feeling. In a time like this, you kinda just gotta do what you gotta do and make the art you wanna make, and that’s something that’s really important. 

W: Shifting into the non-musical aspects of you, if it’s your day off, how do you unwind? 

BJ: A day at the park, starting off easy, especially if I’m in a state of choice, you know? A little herbs have never ruined the world. But, yeah, I’m such an outdoor person. So, the lake days, the park days, I love it. My favorite thing has always been watching sunsets, and I think a lot of people take that for granted. There’s so many people that don’t watch sunsets, it’s kinda crazy. That, and driving. I’m a huge driver too. I don’t know, I feel like I sound like the stereotypical millennial, but that’s kinda my day off, I just like to chill. I pretty much live and breathe music, so, when I’m not thinking about any of that, I like to create memories. 

W: Besides your one song with Landon Sears, you’ve flown pretty much solo. But, let’s say you had every artist at your disposal: Which would you pick for a dream collab? 

BJ: Oh man. Dream collab… There’s obviously the dreams, you know? The unreachables right now. I think I have a few different people for both production collaborations, as well as artist collaborations. Pharrell is obviously up there. He’s the modern day Stevie Wonder to me. Kaytranada is a huge one that I love too. He’s just an incredible black artist. Missy Elliott producing one of my tracks would be a dream as well. I don’t know if she even produces anymore. I think she’s just very, very picky about what she does. Of course, Beyoncé, for the writing side of me, really. 

WIMITLA: Can you tell us about any future projects you have in the works?

Bren Joy: A lot of new songs, visuals, and art. I’m getting the chance now to really be myself, and everything upcoming is 100% me, which I’m excited for. Everyone kinda got that in the past with Twenties, but I think that, now more than ever, I’m making stuff I’m truly geeked about. So, yeah! Just a lot of new music this year.